Apparatus for filling containers of pressure fluids



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APPARATUS FOR FILLING CONTAINERS 0F PRESSURE mums Filed March 11, 1945 2Shets-Sheet 1 glwuc nfovs E. W. \JFSCDBSON H. O. CRERZ'ZI J. AIKINs $0M;f47- M I allozmn 1949- E. w. JACOBSON ET AL 2,

APPARATUS FOR FILLING CONTAINERS OF PRESSURE FLUIDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed March 11, 1946 lllllllllllll In l lll 1 llllllllll M s1 VxwGRFJS'Z'ZI a. Alxms Patented Feb. 22, 1949 APPARATUS FOR FILLINGCONTAINERS OF PRESSURE FLUIDS Eugene W. Jacobson, Oakmont, Harry 0.Creazzi, Penn Township, Allegheny County, and John R.- Ail-tins,Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to Gulf Researchv & Development Company,Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application March 11, 1946,Serial No. 653,666

5 Claims.

1 This invention relates to apparatus for filling containers withaccurately measured volumes of high vapor pressure liquid or highlycompressedv gas. More particularly, it comprises an apparatus forcharging dispensers such as aerosol bombs with a highly volatile liquidwhich upon release carries particles of insecticide or other compositioninto the air in such fine suspension that its effect persists for alonger time than a wet spray.

In order to function properly, each such dispenser must contain anaccurately measured and uniform charge of the liquid propelling anddispersing agent. Any evaporation loss resulting from its leakage inbeing transferred to the dispensing receptacles will deprive them of .afull charge and, as a consequence of this, they may prove faulty inoperation. Moreover, high vapor pressure liquids such as Freon aregenerally expensive and their loss by evaporation in contact with air isboth rapid and costly.

It is also important that air be excluded from the filling apparatus.When it becomes necessary to replenish the bulk supply of high vaporpressure liquid and the pipe connections are broken to connect a newsupply, some air may become trapped in the system and will be dischargedas a .portion of the measured volumes of fluid introduced into thecontainers. Since the volume 01 propellant for each container in suchcase will be insufficient, the same undesirable operation as aforesaidwill be encountered.

Among the objects achievedby our invention are to provide a fillingapparatus for rapidly charging containers with high vapor pressureliquids; for accurately measuringthe volume of liquid placed in eachsuccessive container; for reducing to a minimum the amount of liquidlost by evaporation when the filled containers are replaced by emptyones; and for removing entrapped air preparatory to the fillingoperation, without loss of high vapor pressure liquid.

The foregoing and other objects are accomplished by the apparatus whichcomprises a measuring cylinder and piston delivering measured volumes ofhigh vapor pressure liquid to a filling head which is normally closedand sealed at or slightly above the vapor pressure of the liquid by aspring biased valve but which opens under higher, applied pressure todischarge successive, measured charges oi'lthe fluid and immediatelyrecloses when the source pressure is cut off and the pressure of eachcharge subsides to the vapor pressure of the liquid in the system.Provision is also made for locking the spring leakage.

discharge pipe 20 to the filling head.

biased valve on its seat whereupon the piston may be operated for a fewstrokes to discharge a quantity of the high vapor pressure liquid withentrapped air through a separately controlled outlet into a closedreceptacle from which the high vapor pressure liquid may be recoveredfor reuse. In this way the apparatus may be purged of air before fillingoperations are commenced.

A preferred embodimentof the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a partly diagrammatic view of the apparatus.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the filling head.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of a modified form of piston abutment whichincludes means for signaling the limits of the piston stroke or forinitiating actuation of the valves which control piston movement.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, a hydraulic cylinder illreceives a fluid driven piston ii whose displacement corresponds to thevolume of liquid to be discharged into the dispensing receptacle ii. Thecylinder heads i3 and 94 are equipped with adjusting screws l5 whichpass through conventional stufilng boxes i5 and are thereby adequatelysealed against These adjusting screws regulate the motion of piston iiand thereby determine the volume of high vapor pressure liquid to bedisplaced on each stroke.

Each cylinder head has an inlet port I! and an outlet port-l8 connected,respectively, to a supply pipe i9 and a discharge pipe 20, the latterleading to a filling head 2|. The pipes connecting the inlet ports Hwith supply pipe i9 are provided with valves 22 and 23, and in similarmanner the pipes connecting the outlet ports ill with pipe 20 areprovided with valves 24 and 25. Thus, with the piston in the positionshown in Figure 1 (with all valves closed) when inlet valve 23 andoutlet valve 24 are opened the high vapor pressure liquid from a sourceof supply (not shown) under higher pressure than the vapor pressure ofthe liquid. in order to impart movement to the piston, will enter theright end of the cylinder, driving the piston ahead of it anddischarging a measured volume of the liquid ahead of the piston,through. outlet valve 24 and If. then. valves 23 and 24 are closed andvalves 22 and 25 opened, the high vapor pressure liquid from supply willenter the left end of the cylinder and drive the piston in reversedirection, expelling a measured charge of the liquid through valve 25 ofliquid under high pressure of the source is cut oil and the pressure ofthat portion of the liquid which is trapped in pipe 20 and the fillinghead reduces to about the normal vapor pressure.

The filling head 2| comprises a chambered block which is provided with askirt 26 for guiding a container to be filled into position to receive ameasured charge of the dispensed liquid. Ports 21 and 28 leading to thecentral chamber in the filling head communicate, respectively, withdischarge pipe 20 and with another outlet pipe 30, the purpose of whichwill be presently described. A plunger type valve 3| mounted in thechamber 29 is urged into contact with a valve seat formed in the ferrule32, by a spring 33 whose load can be adjusted by a screw 34 so that thevalve will close against pressure at and somewhat above the vaporpressure of the dispensed liquid but will open under higher pressure ofthe measured charges discharged by the piston A control screw 35 whichis held in adjusted position by a locking nut 36 limits the openingmovement of the valve and thereby guards against damage to the sealingbellows 31 due to excessive movement, thebellows being attached at oneend to the filling head block and at the other to the movable valve.Screw 35 may, however, be turned down to lock the valve on its seat sothat discharge of the fluid to the atmosphere will not occur when theapparatus is operated to rid it of entrapped air.

The ferrule 32 in which the valve seat is formed encircles the neck ofthe dispensing receptacle i2 with minimum clearance and it carries agasket 38 which seals the joint between the filling head and a dispenserin filling position. Ferrules of different size may be employed asrequired for use with various containers.

The neck of the dispenser is fitted with a spring pressed valve 39 whichopens under pressure and which automatically closes upon release. Thus,when the dispenser is removed from the filling head it is immediatelysealed by the closing of this valve 39.

Successive dispensers are presented for filling by positioning them on astand 40 conforming to the contour of the bottom end of the container,as shown in Figure 1. This stand is advanced and retracted by a rod 4|attached to piston 42. The piston is mounted in a pneumatic cylinder 43which is connected by pipe 44 with a source of air under pressure, theadmission and exhaust being controlled by a three-way valve 45 whichconnects the cylinder alternately with the aid supply pipe 44 and anexhaust pipe 46. A sleeve 41 surrounds the piston rod within the coilsof a spring 48 and serves as a safety stop to prevent cverstressing thespring 48 if no dispenser is in place on the supporting stand when thepiston is advanced.

The pipe 30 which extends from the filling head leads to a cylinder orother pressure receptacle as shown'schematically in Figure 1a and isnormally closed by a valve 49. If any air is trapped in the system thevalve 3| is locked in seated position by turning down the screw 35 sothat it cannot open under the pressure of fluid expelled from themeasuring cylinder. The apparatus is then put in operation with thevalve 49 open, expelling the charges of high vapor pressure liquid andany entrained air into the collection receptacle from which the highvapor' pressure liquid may be recovered for further use. After 4 a fewstrokes of the measuring piston the valve 49 is closed and the abutmentscrew 35 is retracted, whereupon the valve 3| may again open under thepressure of succeeding charges to fill the containers.

The inlet and outlet valves of the measuring cylinder I0 may be manuallycontrolled or they may be of the solenoid type, actuated by electricalimpulses. In either case our invention contemplates the provision of amechanism such as is shown in Figure 3 for signaling the end of pistonstroke so that the operator may be advised when to open and close thevalves, or for automatically initiating their operation. Here a rod 50carrying acollar 5| which abuts against a shoulder of the casing 52 tolimit its movement under the influence of spring 53, contacts the end ofpiston H at the limit of its movement and is urged back against theloading of the spring to close a contact at the switch 54. The closingof the switch contacts may energize electrical circuits for actuatingsolenoid control valves in proper sequence through the medium of aprogram motor or in other conventional manner.

In order to prevent leakage of the high vapor pressure liquid'toatmosphere along the rod 50 a flexible bellows 55 connects the collar 5|with the housing structure 52.

In this form of invention air may conveniently be bled from theapparatus through a restricted passage 56 and port 51 which iscontrolled by needle valve 58.

While the foregoing description has reference to filling dispensingreceptacles with high vapor pressure liquid, it is tobe understood thatthe apparatus is not confined to such use but that it may equally wellbe employed for dispensing highly compressed gas, andthat its use is notlimited to the field of charging dispensers but that it also has utilityfor filling storage receptacles with measured volumes of highly volatileliquids or compressed gases.

What we claim is:

' 1. An apparatus for filling containers with measured volumes of highvapor pressure liquid, comprising a filling head, acylindercommunicating with said filling head and with a source of supply of suchliquid under substantially higher pressure than its vapor pressure,through admission and discharge ports at each end of the cylinder,valvesfor controlling the admission of fluid to alternate ends of thecylinder and for controlling the discharge thereof from the oppositealternate ends of the cylinder, a double acting piston in said cylinderoperating upon reciprocation to discharge measured volumes of the liquidto the filling head under pressure higher than that normally existing inthe filling head, an

outlet valve in the filling head normally held closed by spring meansbut responding to the higher pressure of each charge of the liquiddischarged by said piston and thereby operating to permit dispensing ofeach such charge, a projecting discharge conduit of such diameter asclosely to surround the projecting tubular filling conduit of acontainer in position. to receive a charge of the liquid and of a lengthsufiicient for its end to abut the shoulder of such containersurrounding the filling conduit, a sealing gasket between the outletconduit of said fillingheadand the shoulder of the container adapted toprevent leakage therebetween, and means for presenting a container tothe filling head and for pressing the same into sealing contact with theoutlet conduit thereof.

2. An apparatus for filling containers with measured volumes of highvapor pressure liquid, comprising a cylinder and a fluid operated pistondischarging the liquid in measured quantities to a filling head, aplunger valve for the outletpi the filling head, a spring bearingthereagainst for normally holding the valve on its seat, adjustablemeans for loading said spring, an abutment for limiting opening movementof the valve, means for adjusting said abutment to lock the valve on itsseat, and a valve controlled port in said filling head communicatingwith a closed receptacle to which successive charges of the liquid withentrapped air may be conveyed when the said plunger valve is locked onits seat, in order to purge the apparatus of air preparatory todispensing measured volumes of the liquid yet to permit recovery of theliquid so discharged with the air.

3. In a filling apparatus for introducing measured volumes of high vaporpressure liquid into valved containers, a filling head to whichsuccessive charges of the liquid are delivered, a plunger valve in saidfilling head for closing the outlet thereof, a flexible bellows soconnected between the interior of the filling head and valve thatpressure of the charges of liquid delivered to the filling head isexerted in a direction to unseat the valve, a loading spring for thevalve tending to seat the same, selectively operated means for lockingthe valve on its seat, a conduit communicating with the filling head anda closed receptacle and a valve in said conduit for controlling fiow ofliquid to said closed receptacle when said plunger valve is locked onits seat, thereby to purge the apparatus of entrapped air preparatory toa dispensing operation yet permit recovery of liquid removed to saidclosed receptacle with the air.

4. In a filling apparatus for introducing measured charges of high vaporpressure liquid into valved containers, 9. valved filling head whichdelivers the liquid under pressure of each charge. a platform upon whicha receptacle to be filled is positioned, a cylinder and piston soarranged that by movement of one relative to the other the platform maybe advanced to press the filling opening. of the receptacle into contactwith the outlet of said filling head and retracted after the receptaclefluence of said spring, and an abutment carried by said piston forlimiting its advance in the absence of a receptacle on said platform.

5. In a filling apparatus for introducing measured charges of high vaporpressure liquid into valved containers, a cylinder provided with aninlet and outlet valve at each end, a fluid actuated piston in saidcylinder, a reciprocable rod urged inwardly of the cylinder by a springto the limit of movement of an abutment thereon, said rod extendingthrough a head of said cylinder to a position where it will be engagedby the piston at the end of a stroke, and electric control meansactuated by movement of said rod under impact of the piston at the endof its stroke.

EUGENE W. JACOBSQN. HARRY 0. CREAZZI. JOHN R. AIKINS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flle ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

